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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29111433">Soul Secrets</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Why_do_you_want_to_know/pseuds/Why_do_you_want_to_know'>Why_do_you_want_to_know</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Supernatural</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abusive John Winchester, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Creatures &amp; Monsters, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Bad Parent John Winchester, But Still Someone Not Eating When They Should, Caring Castiel (Supernatural), Castiel and Dean Winchester Falling in Love, Castiel is Not a Morning Person (Supernatural), Castiel's species does get found out, College | University Student Castiel (Supernatural), College | University Student Dean Winchester, Creature Castiel (Supernatural), Disordered Eating, First Meetings, Human Dean Winchester, I promise it's cool, Jumpy Dean, M/M, Magic, More Details In Chapter Notes, Mythical Beings &amp; Creatures, Not An Eating Disorder, Oblivious Dean Winchester, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Poor Dean Winchester, Possessive Castiel (Supernatural), Protective Castiel (Supernatural), Rich Castiel (Supernatural), Roommates, Soulmates, Very Protective Castiel, but not until a later chapter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 11:35:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>14,440</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29111433</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Why_do_you_want_to_know/pseuds/Why_do_you_want_to_know</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean didn't know what he was expecting when he finally went to college, but he definitely wasn't expecting his roommate to be- well, like he is. Castiel is weird, funny, and kind of dorky. He's also a creature, though Dean doesn't know what, and the longer they spend sharing a room the stranger Cas' behaviour gets.</p><p>He's completely normal around everyone else, but Dean seems to be his exception.</p><p>What is Cas? And why does he seem to care about Dean so much?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Castiel &amp; Dean Winchester, Castiel/Dean Winchester, Charlie Bradbury &amp; Dean Winchester</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>109</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>254</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Bee Happy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I wrote all of this... Sometime last year. No idea when, time was meaningless when I did it. Anyway, I decided now was the time to start posting it. As you probably know from the tags, Castiel is a creature, but as it's kinda a *thing* that Dean doesn't know what Cas is, I'm not gonna tell you guys either. You'll probably figure it out anyway, the only reason Dean takes so long is he's oblivious.</p><p>Anyway!!! Thanks for clicking on my story!! I hope you enjoy!!!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Dean could honestly say that he had never known fear quite like how he felt when he moved into his dorm room. He had been so excited about finally getting to college, after so many years of pretending he didn’t care and working night and day to make sure Sammy had everything he wanted, it was his turn.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Armed with all his worldly possessions in one single duffel bag, and a box, he stood outside what would be his room for the next year. For a moment he allowed himself to think about how much happier he would be if Sam was here, or Bobby or even his father - not like he had spoken to John in ten years, but it still would have been better than being alone. But Sam had a life now, and a job, and friends. Dean had a give ‘em hell attitude, a mechanic job which he'd had to give up to come here, and a college place for mechanical engineering. Sam had things to do, a life to live, Dean wasn’t going to drag him away for a weekend to help him move in. Bobby had wanted to come and help, but Dean had assured him that it was fine, he didn’t need to waste the journey.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean didn’t want to be alone, but he knew he wasn’t worth people's time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The college he had decided to enrol in was very open, anyone could apply. Humans, creatures, it didn’t care. As long as you passed the SAT and you were respectable, you could get a place. He knew that his roommate was a creature - the college had called him up to make sure it wouldn’t be a problem - but he didn’t actually know what kind of creature he was. The college had said they were sorry, but that wasn’t something they could give away. It was personal. Dean wasn’t that bothered, he wasn’t like his dad who couldn't stand any supernatural creature ever. As long as they were respectful and polite, Dean didn't care what species someone was. He had no more problems with creatures than he had with humans.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It only took him ten minutes to unpack his things and get his half of the room how he wanted it, but even then it was oddly empty. In fact, from an outsider's point of view, the only things different about the two sides of the room was that one of the beds had bedding on it, there was a picture frame on the one bedside table, and Dean had left the cupboard open.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He would definitely need to go shopping soon so that he could get some posters or something to brighten the room up. Saying that, he would also need to get a new job if he wanted to eat anytime in the next year.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean had nowhere else to be today, and nothing else to do until his roommate arrived, so he grabbed his phone and earphones and put some music on, laying down in bed to listen to it and allow the familiar notes to drag him down to sleep.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The next thing Dean was aware of was a quiet shuffling noise, and sound of a closet door opening and closing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He sat up slowly, pulling his earphones out and blinking blearily towards the noise. He had to wait a moment before his eyes cleared, and when it did he was faced with the very </span>
  <span>handsome</span>
  <span> grumpy face of his roommate.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The guy - or not guy? He was a creature wasn't he? - was in the middle of putting his clothes in his closet and unless Dean was seeing double, he had more pairs of slacks than Dean had clothes all together. Either the guy was loaded, or he was planning on wearing a suit for the entire year.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hello?" Dean said, his voice rough from sleep. He was still half asleep, his brain not yet awake yet to phrase it as anything other than a question.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hello Dean, my name is Castiel. I'm your roommate," the guy said. His voice was even rougher than Dean's, despite the guy being clearly well awake, but his phrasing was awkward, as though he wasn't used to meeting new people and having to introduce himself to them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hiya Catsti- Castle- Casle-," Dean tried, his brain unable to figure out what he was even trying to say. He blushed deep red, fixing his eyes on the floor and refusing to look up. He felt awful that this was the impression he was making. He couldn't even pronounce the poor guy's name. "Hiya Cas."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas didn’t seem that bothered about Dean’s inability to pronounce his full name, he didn’t correct him anyway. He just continued putting his clothes away, smiling like a cat who had just been given some of it’s favourite cream. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t look back around, so after a moment Dean returned to his phone, turning his music back on and relaxing back on his bed. He didn’t fall asleep this time, instead he watched Cas as he unpacked, methodically putting his clothes in the closet, his posters on the wall and his pictures on his bedside table. Dean didn’t mean to peer, but to be fair, they were going to spend the next year sharing a room. If Dean didn’t know now what was in his photos, he would by the end.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Most of the photos on Cas’ bedside table appeared to be of his family, as well as a cat which Dean could only assume was the guy’s pet. The posters on the wall were mainly of plants - maybe photos Cas had taken himself - and a few garden animals like birds and squirrels. Maybe the guy liked gardening? Dean knew that all the flowers and greenery should have made the room look stupid and girly, but somehow it managed to look both stylish and fairly neutral. It didn’t look mascaline, not by any stretch, but somehow the end result was more towards homely than stupid.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Other than his introduction, Cas didn’t say anything else for a long time. He was clearly used to being alone, unlike Dean who was very thankful he had his music or else he would have probably done something stupid like asking Cas what species he was and ruining any possible roommate friendship before it even started. Dean wished he could say he wasn’t that tactless and that he wouldn’t be able to do that on the first day, but he knew himself. He would totally be able to do that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>If he had one skill it was fucking stuff up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of footsteps getting closer. He quickly opened his eyes - and when had he even closed them? - and pulled his earphones out, only realising once he was sitting up that the footsteps had been Cas and not whatever danger his mind had suggested. He tried his best to be more trusting and not react to every little noise, but even if he hadn’t seen John in years, old habits die hard.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas stood in the middle ground between their seperate sides for a moment, waiting until Dean was well and truly focused and no longer trapped in his head before he crossed onto Dean’s side. Dean couldn’t figure out why he did that, he was fairly sure he was subtle enough about his jumpiness that Cas wouldn’t have noticed it within a day, maybe Cas was just polite like that? Then again, as Dean watched Cas walk across the floor, holding something close to him as he did so, he noticed something. Despite the fact it was footsteps which warned him to Cas’ approach, his footsteps weren’t audible. Which implied either Dean was going crazy, or Cas had purposefully made noise to warn Dean. Dean couldn’t tell which it was after only an hour at most, but he vowed to figure it out before the end of the year.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not that he expected it to take that long, he was more skilled than that. A year was just his absolute most amount of time he’d be able to have.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas paused at the side of Dean’s bed. He was standing right by Dean’s hip, closer than Dean really thought necessary, but before he could point out the fact personal space was a thing, Cas started speaking.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Here, I noticed your wall was bare,” Cas said, his voice just as gravelly as it had been earlier in the day. He thrust the item he’d been carrying - which Dean could tell was a poster, but couldn’t tell what was on it, - into Dean’s hands and walked back to his side of the room. He didn’t seem bothered about what Dean thought of the poster, but then again, Dean didn’t know anything about him. That could've been his absolutely terrified face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He gently unrolled the poster, revealing a A3 sized light blue poster. It had a cartoon bee in the middle, surrounded by some flowers and the words, ‘Don’t worry, </span>
  <b>bee</b>
  <span> happy’. Dean snorted at the awful pun, the stupid cartoon bee’s stupid cartoon smile somehow making him smile, despite how stupid he still thought it was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thank you Cas,” he said with a smile and a nod, already rootling through his stuff for a blob of blu tack so he could stick it to the wall. However stupid it was, he could tell that if he ever had a bad day, that stupid cartoon bee would make it a little bit better.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>From the look of the smile Cas gave him in return for his thanks, Cas would make it that bit better as well.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Territorial</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Dean settled into college life fairly quickly. He wasn't late to any of his lectures, he got his work done, he made friends. He met the other guys who shared the communal spaces with him and Cas, and luckily found he got along with them pretty well. Cas was still oddly quiet and he seemed to spend more time staring into the distance - or at Dean? He honestly couldn't tell, but the guy was definitely staring at something - than blinking, but he wasn’t exactly unbearable.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Whether Dean was doing work, listening to music, or messing around on his phone, if he looked up then nine times out of ten, Cas would be looking back. Either the guy had some kind of 'someone-is-looking-at-you' sense, or he spent too much of his time looking away from his stuff, but out of all the weird quirks for the guy to have, it was probably one of the better ones. He knew at least one person who’s roommate smoked all day, and refused to open the window. In the grand scheme of things, Dean could deal with some staring.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas was weird, really weird to be honest, but Dean was getting more and more used to it by the day, and by the time he’d been there a couple of weeks, Dean pretty much stopped noticing unless he did something </span>
  <b>really </b>
  <span>weird. Whenever Dean felt lonely, or homesick, or stressed, he would find himself looking at the poster Cas had given him on the first day, and just like he had expected, it cheered him up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was hard to be sad with such a happy face smiling back at you.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hey Cas, I'm going to get some Chinese with Charlie tonight, do you want to come?" Dean asked, one day about a month into term, pulling his shoes on. He and Charlie shared a couple of classes and they had instantly become best friends - though that might just have been because Dean finished Charlie’s Star Wars quote on the first day. They started going between classes together and studying from time to time. This time, they weren't planning to do any studying, they just decided to meet up and grab some food. Charlie had been raving for this place for weeks, and had finally convinced Dean to come with her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Who's Charlie?" Cas asked, his voice as low and rumbly as it always was. Dean still wasn't certain the guy didn't gargle gravel every morning, but he hadn't got round to asking yet. He hadn’t got round to asking a lot of things yet, every time he thought maybe he could ask, Cas would change the subject and the opportunity would be gone again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"A friend," Dean explained, not seeing any reason to explain in any more detail. Cas never paid that much attention to Dean's friends. Actually, Cas didn't seem to pay that much attention to anything Dean said but Dean didn't take it personally. He at least pretended to be listening, which was more than Dean could say for some other people. And it wasn’t even like he was meaning to be rude, Cas was just like that, he had more important things to do than listen to puny humans… Dean's words not Cas', Cas had never said anything regarding species at all.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Is she your girlfriend?" Cas honest to god growled. Dean jumped to his feet in shock, spinning around to face his roommate who was not reacting in the way Dean had been expecting at all. For a grumpy guy who seemed to not care about much other than nature, he sure seemed angry now.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What? No!" Dean said, "She's just a friend! And a lesbian! And I'm ninety percent sure she has a crush on the fairy in one of our lectures. She is not my girlfriend!" And yeah, Dean would be the first to admit that he had used a lot of words to make sure Cas understood that he and Charlie were </span>
  <b>not </b>
  <span>dating, but hey! The guy was growling! You can't blame Dean for word vomiting to try and stop him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh," Cas replied awkwardly, visibly deflating, "sorry. I think I'll give this one a miss, I'll see you when you get back."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean blinked a couple of times in shock at the complete one eighty his roommate just completed, but Cas didn't say anything else, just turned back to the book he had been reading before and left Dean with nothing left to do but grab his jacket and head out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had never seen Cas act like that before. If he didn't already know the guy as completely harmless, just grumpy, he would probably be scared. Clearly Cas could be terrifying when he wanted to be… that was definitely something Dean would want to bear in mind for the future. He did not want to get on Cas' bad side. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had the feeling it would be the last thing he ever did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the time he made it to the Chinese he was about ten minutes late due to traffic and Cas’ weird reaction. Dean wasn’t fully sure what to make of the whole thing, but right now he was getting food with his best friend and he was happy enough to push it to the back of his mind.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Well… That had been the plan.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Apparently his mind didn’t agree as he just kept on thinking about it. Every time he tried to think about anything else on the drive over, his brain would drag him straight back. Did Cas actually hate him? But then why did he get angry over the idea of Cas having a girlfriend? Did Cas want to date Charlie? But then why did he ask who Charlie was?</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Nothing was adding up and by this point it was just giving Dean a headache. He was probably just worried that Dean would bring a girl home and make a load of noise or something, or maybe he was one of the territorial creatures who didn’t like people they didn’t like going into their space, even if they share that space with someone else.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He walked into the restaurant, trying to focus on the here and now instead of Cas, but he clearly didn’t manage it very well seeing as the first thing Charlie said to him was, “What happened?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean rolled his eyes, dropping into the chair across from Charlie, “Hi to you too Red, yes I had a good day thanks, that sounds awesome.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Shut it Winchester,” Charlie laughed, “This is more important, something has got you worked up.” Normally Dean would be quite happy to rant to someone about this whole Cas thing, but Charlie was definitely the kind of girl who would get way too excited over gossip, would jump to many, many, conclusions based on some books she read, and would then declare some shocking conspiracy theory instead of helping. Well, she would think she was helping. Dean disagreed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wow, really?” Dean asked dryly, “and how did you figure that out?” He was actually slightly interested. Dean’s poker face was legendary - thanks John - and Charlie was human just like him. She always seemed to just know things for no rational reason. Once Dean had asked if she was actually a creature and if she had just been lying, but she assured him that wasn’t it. She just ‘Had Her Ways.’ Dean still didn’t know what that meant, but he knew he wanted to know.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I have my ways,” Charlie answered, like she always did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean sighed loudly. He entertained the idea of arguing with her, trying to finally find out what she meant, but he decided against it. A) they were friends, he wasn't going to force anything on her. And B) he knew her and if she didn't want to tell him something, he wouldn't. That wasn't something Dean would be able to change.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"It's my roommate alright," Dean explained eventually, "he was just acting a bit weird before I left, and I don't know, it startled me or something. Nothing big."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Charlie looked thoughtful for a moment, clearly disagreeing with Dean about it not being a big deal, "how weird is weird?" she asked, obviously seeing something interesting in Dean's story, something worth looking into. Maybe she was a really good friend who wanted to help Dean, or more likely she was still an awesome friend, but she just wanted the chance to do some investigating.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"He's a weird guy," Dean relented, "but this was even weirder than normal. I told him I was meeting up with you, I was inviting him along actually, and he asked if you were my girlfriend and got all growly and threatening."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Wait really," Charlie gasped, "he got angry over you possibly having a girlfriend?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yeah, weird right!" Dean said, glad to see that Charlie seemed to think it was as weird as Dean did, "he never cares about my friends, or what I'm doing, but I mention you and he gets all like that!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Charlie looked thoughtful for another moment, before a look of understanding passed over her face. "Dean, what species is he?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean shrugs helplessly, "I don't know. The college wouldn't tell me, and I've never had the chance to ask," he explains, before adding on, "after today I'm assuming he's one of the more territorial types. Maybe he didn't like the idea of me bringing someone back into his space, even if it's my space as well."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Charlie nodded in agreement, "yeah maybe," she muttered, but she had that smile which told Dean she knew something he didn't.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What?" he asked, frustrated by how this conversation was going.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What what?" Charlie replied with a sly smile, "don't worry Dean, I'm sure you'll figure it out sometime soon."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean just shakes his head, "yeah I'm sure, now come on. Did we come here to get food or to talk about my weird roommate?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Charlie laughed, "food," she agreed, apparently willing to let the topic drop.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean was glad they weren't talking about it anymore, but something still stuck in his mind. Charlie knew what was going on, but wasn't going to tell him, which either meant it was hilarious, stupid, annoying, or just something she didn't feel like she should be the one to tell Dean. Maybe she knew what Cas was?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the time Dean made it back to his room, it was late, he was comfortably full of good food, and he was exhausted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas was still awake, reading a different book to earlier, but in nearly exactly the same position. Despite the late hour, he didn't seem like he was planning to go to sleep any time soon, but that didn't bother Dean anymore. Cas would read by the light of his phone, leaving the room dark enough for Dean to sleep so long as he turned away from Cas.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It worked, so Dean had never mentioned it to Cas. He just assumed the guy was a night owl or something, it was only midnight and it wasn't odd for college students to stay up into the early hours of the morning, it was Dean who was weird for going to sleep at a reasonable hour, not Cas for not sleeping yet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Hello Dean," Cas said, not looking up from his book, "did you have a good time?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Umm- yeah, thanks," Dean replied. He had not been expecting Cas to talk to him, especially not with how he was acting before Dean left. He had been expecting to be ignored until at least tomorrow night, but apparently that wasn't the plan.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"That's good," Cas hummed, placing his book on the bed next to him and turning his piercing blue gaze to Dean, "I just want to apologise for how I acted earlier. That was completely uncalled for, and I'm sorry."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean took a deep breath, trying to sort his thoughts out, "don't worry about it," he squeaked out, "we all have our quirks. I'm gonna assume yours is your own space?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I- what?" Cas asked, looking honestly confused over what Dean was talking about.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Why you reacted like that? You were worried I was going to bring someone back who would invade your space?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Umm- yeah, something like that," Cas agreed, still looking confused, but apparently deciding that it was close enough.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Well, now we've cleared that up, I should probably sleep now," Dean said with a smile, grabbing his sleep stuff and heading to the bathroom to shower and get changed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yes, sleep well Dean," Cas said with a squint, as though he thought he was missing something.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean nodded once more, an odd feeling which he couldn't name filling the room between them. "Yeah, you sleep well too Cas."</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading!!<br/>Comments and kudos mean the world to me!!<br/>Have an awesome week, and I'll see you with a new chapter... at the weekend probably!!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Coffee</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Plot? You meant that's not interchangeable with grumpy Cas? Damn... Someone should have probably told me that before I wrote this chapter... 😂😂😂</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>They didn’t bring up Castiel’s strange behaviour again, an unspoken agreement falling between them just not to talk about it. Talking about it would make things weird and that was the last thing Dean wanted and judging from Cas’ behaviour, he agreed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Despite not talking about it, the whole thing seemed to hang in the air between them, like some kind of flashing pink elephant they both tried to ignore. Dean always made sure not to bring anyone back to his dorm room without checking with Cas first, making sure his space wouldn’t be invaded, while on his end of things Cas seemed to be putting extra effort in to act like a normal person and not startle Dean with his otherness. Dean tried to explain it wasn’t needed, but Cas didn’t seem to care all that much and just kept on hiding anything which wasn’t completely human like.</span>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Morning Cas,” Dean chirped as his roommate shuffled into the communal kitchen, acting fake cheerey just because he knew it annoyed Cas. In actuality, he was as half asleep as Cas was in the mornings, but Cas had a really cute grumpy face so Dean was always happy to turn on the theatrics.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Wait what? Dean didn’t think Cas was cute, he was just entertaining, that was all. Not cute, or adorable, not even when he was all sleep ruffled and glaring at his coffee mug and acting like the world had failed him just by making mornings exist. No, not even then.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Where was he even going with this?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No,” Cas muttered. Okay, to be fair, it was more of a growl, but it was </span>
  <b>meant </b>
  <span>to be a mutter and probably would have been if he hadn’t been too half asleep to keep all of his monster tendencies in, and Dean was going to be nice and not pick up on them because clearly Cas was going out of his way to hide them whenever he had higher brain function.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Which wasn’t until at least his third cup of coffee, so Dean would just pretend until then.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No?” Dean teased, hopping up onto the counter and swinging his legs while he grinned, “No what? No you don’t want me to put another pot of coffee on?” He asked it innocently enough, but he knew that there would be a gleam in his eye and Cas would be able to tell he was joking as soon as he looked around.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>What he hadn’t been expecting was for Cas to full out snarl as he turned around, only quieting when his tired brain registered that Dean was joking.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was a moment of complete silence before Dean hummed quietly and hopped off the counter to walk over to the coffee pot. “Okay, note to self, don’t make coffee jokes early in the morning.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas seemed to relax back into his chair once he realised that Dean really wasn’t phased, probably worried that his weird coffee addiction was going to scare Dean off. Like that was going to happen, Dean had seen weirder things than some unknown creature getting worked up over caffeinated heaven.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean quickly made up the coffee, using the expensive grounds that Cas insisted on buying. He let Dean drink it as well, even though he refused to allow any of the others to even touch his coffee, so Dean was definitely not complaining. That stuff was like liquid gold and if Dean could afford it, he would buy it without a doubt. As it was, he couldn’t, so he was quite happy to exchange making it, for getting to drink it, for as long as Cas would let him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The coffee was made in record time and Dean poured out two mugs, taking a seat next to Cas before passing his mug over. It probably wouldn’t be too long before the other guys they shared the kitchen with were down, being loud and making breakfast, so they enjoyed the silence while they had it. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Neither spoke as they slowly drank their drinks, the pot pretty much empty - just a few dregs left at the bottom - before Cas even tried to say anything more than one word sentences, turning to Dean with a fake smile which Dean couldn’t avoid snickering at the sight of, and muttering, “hello Dean.” Cas wasn’t exactly a ‘good morning’ kind of guy, but then again Cas wasn’t much of a morning guy at all, so that was not a surprise to Dean.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Heya Cas,” Dean grinned. Sentences longer than one word were a good sign, and normally meant that Dean could go ahead and try to start a conversation without being ignored or the polite version of being told to shut up. “You finally with me buddy?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Unfortunately,” Cas replied, his voice leaving no part of how he felt about being awake to the imagination. Dean was fairly sure Cas would sleep forever if given the choice, but he had college and the one time Dean had jokingly brought it up, Cas had cagily replied he had something to do before he could stay in bed forever, but wouldn't say what that thing was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Aww, no need to sound so disappointed,” Dean laughed, “at least when you are awake you get to spend time with me and my dazzling personality.” He even added jazz hands to really get his point across. The point being that he was equal parts annoying and - he hoped anyway - adorable.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hmm,” Cas murmured dryly, “I guess you make a good point.” Dean had just enough time to grin before Cas stood up, his chair scraping loudly across the floor, “I need to go and get ready. Don’t forget to eat breakfast.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean squinted at his friend as he walked out the room, a bit confused over his last comment. It was an… odd thing to say to a friend. But then again it wasn’t any odder than Cas was normally, so actually for Cas this was totally normal.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>With a shrug, Dean stood up and walked over to the toaster, grabbing some bread out of the cupboard and setting it off, grabbing some jam out to have with it. Within moments of Cas walking out, he heard a loud clattering of feet before Benny and Cole barrel into the kitchen, clattering their way through grabbing food and coffee and stopping Dean from thinking about anything else too much.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading!!!<br/>Have an awesome week... and I'll get the next chapter up... Sometime midweek.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Sta*bee*</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Yes, the bee puns have returned with a vengeance. Literally the bee pun has very little to do with this chapter... But this story has Cas in it, so we need more bee puns.<br/>Thanks to the people who have been leaving comments! You guys are pretty much the only thing keeping me going by this point in the year! (What do you mean it's the *start* of the year??) Bu seriously, comments mean a lot, so thanks for that!!<br/>Ummm... Yeah I don't have much more to say. Enjoy!!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Life went on, Dean worked hard, some of his midterm exams were coming up, leading him to spend nearly every night at his desk studying. Most nights Cas would be there as well, reading or doing studying of his own, and they would sit in comfortable silence as they both tried to figure out what they were looking at.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was on one of these nights that Dean figured out that Cas was an awesome study partner. He’d been getting increasingly frustrated all evening, reading the same chapter over and over, yet he still couldn’t figure out how to do it when he tried to answer the practice questions he had. He’d been working for hours and yet he still couldn’t move on to the next chapter. If he kept this up, he was never going to finish studying and then he would fail his exam, he’d get kicked out of college and everyone who always said he was too stupid to do this would be right and then-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dean?” Cas asked carefully, his voice coming from right next to Dean’s ear. He jumped, his hand automatically reaching out for his hip, where he used to keep the gun John made them keep at all times, before he forced himself to relax. He was at college, not with his dad. He spun around to see his roommate standing right next to him, a worried expression on his face and his hands held out in front of him as if to show he was unarmed. How had Dean not heard him walk over? He always walked loudly when he was approaching Dean - even louder when Dean was busy so might not be listening out for footsteps - yet even with that, Dean hadn’t heard him this time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, hey Cas, what’re you doing over here?” Dean asked, his voice full of fake cheer as he tried to pretend he didn’t have frustrated tears in his eyes from getting the same question wrong for the seventh time in a row.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas didn’t say anything, just tilted his head like a bird and peered at Dean like he was looking into his very soul. It wasn’t exactly odd for Cas, he was a man of few words and although the peering and the head tilting and the silence had taken a while to get used to, by now Dean really was used to them and would have found it weirder if Cas had acted straight away, instead of carefully thinking like he normally did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A moment passed in silence before Cas started carefully moving forwards, drawing Dean into a hug. He moved slowly and didn’t tighten his arms until Dean relaxed into his embrace, giving Dean plenty of time to pull away if he wanted to.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t want to. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gratefully melting into his roommate’s strong arms he finally felt the wrongness, which had settled under his skin when he was trying to figure out the work, start to drain away, leaving only peace and the warmth of Cas’ embrace.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas’ large palm gently ran up and down his back, the other one running through his hair and causing Dean to melt into an actual pile of goo and contentment.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They stayed like that for what was probably only a few minutes, but felt to Dean like eternity and no time at all, at the same time, before Cas started drawing back. Dean definitely didn’t make a small whimper at that, but if he had, Cas would have gently shushed him, rubbing his back for a bit longer before settling back on the balls of his feet, crouched in front of Dean’s chair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Would you like me to help?” Cas asked quietly, gesturing to Dean’s work, the low rumble of his voice just as relaxing as his embrace had been. Dean nodded, words escaping him for the moment as he turned back to the chapter he’d been trying to work on, staring at the words and then - at Cas’ encouragement - reading it out and explaining what the chapter meant to Cas.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It took them five minutes to get through the chapter, Cas asking questions when he didn’t understand what Dean had explained, and by the time Dean had finished explaining everything and turned to the practice questions he couldn’t understand, he found that they all made sense now. While explaining it to Cas he had managed to get it all straightened out in his brain, so by the time he got to the parts of the question that he had got wrong every other time, he knew what to do.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey! That worked!” Dean laughed in delight, showing Cas how his answer and the book's answer matched up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas smiled, looking just as pleased as Dean did, “I’m glad that helped,” he said, standing up and starting to walk back over to his side of the room, “if you get stuck on something again, I’m just over here and happy to help.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean grinned, “Sure, if you aren’t busy I’ll make sure to ask for your help.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas dropped back down onto his bed, grabbing out his book, “Oh, don’t worry if I look busy. I spend most of my time reading, and that’s not as pressing as your exams.” Dean opened his mouth to point out that he couldn’t interrupt Cas when he was studying, but before he could get the words out, Cas continued, “I already know all the stuff I’m learning on this course, so don’t worry about studying. My revision is turning up to the lectures.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How on earth did you have time to already know this stuff?" Dean asked, spinning around, unable to hold in the smile which spread across his face when he saw the innocent expression on Cas’ face, like he didn’t even know why Dean was confused about this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’ve had a lot of free time before enrolling here,” Cas answered with a shrug, “The point remains, if you ever need anyone to help, I’m always available.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Thanks Cas,” Dean said with the brightest smile he could muster, “that means a lot.” He wasn’t sure if Cas actually blushed, or if Dean was just imagining things, but either way, Cas was adorable.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Two weeks later, Dean gets the results back from his midterms. He passed with flying colours, getting nearly full marks on the chapters he had studied with Cas. that night, when he got back to his dorm, Cas was nowhere to be seen, but there was a notebook on his desk with a knife wielding bee and the word ‘stabee’, along with a sticky note in Cas’ handwriting congratulating him on his results.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn’t question how Cas knew how he did, just smiled and flicked through the notebook, gently placing it in his desk for future use.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks for reading!!<br/>I hope you enjoyed!! And I'll see you with the next chapter at the weekend!!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. I'll Watch Over You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Over time, Dean could honestly say that he forgot that Cas wasn't human. Sure, the guy had some quirks, but he wasn't obviously 'other' in any way which couldn't be explained away by 'bad at social situations' and the odd case of 'that's just Cas, he does that' to the extent that Dean would completely forget until something happened, and Dean was reminded that Cas wasn't just like him. It probably helped that Dean didn't actually know what Cas was - even after so long of sharing a room, he still didn't know - so he didn't really have any assumptions to base Cas' behaviour on. He was just Cas.</p><p> </p><p>*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</p><p> </p><p>Dean tossed and turned on his bed, trying to fight the urge to sigh. Cas' light had turned off hours ago, and Dean wasn't going to be <em> that guy </em>and disturb him just because he can't sleep. At least one of them should be able to get a good night's sleep, and it clearly wasn't going to be Dean.</p><p> </p><p>His mind was racing, jumping from one topic to another, enough thoughts bubbling up that Dean couldn't even begin to relax enough to sleep, never mind actually fall asleep. And to make things even worse, his back ached. It was probably from spending so many hours hunched over a book studying, but whatever the reason was, it was not helping him fall asleep at all.</p><p> </p><p>With a silent sigh, Dean turned over onto his other side, as though his brain thought he'd be able to sleep if he just turned over.</p><p> </p><p>He opened his eyes, looking around the dark room, hoping that some visual input would help calm his thoughts, and nearly screamed when he made eye contact with some glowing orbs on the other side of the room.</p><p> </p><p>He was about half a second away from leaping to his feet and possibly trying to find whatever weapon he could, when his tired brain caught up with his eyes, figuring out the dimensions and placement of the orbs.</p><p> </p><p>No. Not orbs. Eyes. Blue, glowy eyes. But eyes nonetheless.</p><p> </p><p>"Cas?" Dean hissed in confusion, hoping that it really would turn out that his roommate had glowy eyes, and not that there was some kind of monster in their room.</p><p> </p><p>"Hello Dean," the gravelly voice of Cas replied, his voice calm like he couldn't understand why Dean sounded worried. "Are you alright?"</p><p> </p><p>Judging from the height of the eyes, Cas was lying in bed, facing Dean, and unless he was going insane, staring at Dean's bed. He hadn't blinked - well, the glow hadn't changed, but same thing - since Dean had first seen him there, and Dean was getting increasingly concerned that he didn't have to.</p><p> </p><p>"I'm alright," Dean replied, laughing slightly hysterically, "I was just wondering if you were aware that your eyes are glowing."</p><p> </p><p>The sound of Cas' low chuckle came from the darkness, along with the sound of rustling, like someone was shifting in bed, which Dean assumed was exactly what was happening. "Yes, I was aware of that," Cas said in a gentle voice, "I take it you weren't?"</p><p> </p><p>"I guess I've never seen your eyes in the dark." Dean would have shrugged, but he was lying on his side and couldn't really move his shoulders that much, so he would have to hope it translated across in his tone. "Also dude, you still haven't blinked."</p><p> </p><p>A quiet "oh" echoed through the room, before Cas blinked, the glow disappearing for a moment before reappearing, leaving Dean wondering how thick Cas' eyelids must be to cut off the glow. He also wondered what was causing them to glow, did they have their own light source? Were they reflecting the moonlight? Could Cas turn them on and off? He couldn't seem to stop himself from mentally going through all the creatures he could think of, trying to figure out which ones had glowy eyes, but none came to mind.</p><p> </p><p>"Why are you awake?" Cas asked quietly, shifting again but this time Dean could just about see his silhouette sitting up.</p><p> </p><p>"Couldn't sleep," Dean sighed, "what about you?" He hoped that talking to Cas would help him relax and finally allow him to sleep.</p><p> </p><p>"I don't sleep," Cas replied, talking like it was the most normal thing in the world. </p><p> </p><p>"You don't sleep?" Dean gasped in shock, barely able to believe that he was hearing this properly, “then why are you always so grumpy in the mornings?”</p><p> </p><p>Castiel chuckled quietly, “It’s too light for a start,” it was too dark to see, but Dean was fairly sure Cas was counting the reasons off on his fingers, “people are loud, my bed is comfy, I can’t stay with m-” Cas stopped suddenly, cutting himself off to another laugh, this one a bit more nervous that before. “I mean- I have to stop reading my book.”</p><p> </p><p>"Is that what you do at night?"</p><p> </p><p>Cas looked thoughtful for a moment, before saying, "Yes, mainly I read, watch over you, occasionally I text my family or some friends who are awake."</p><p> </p><p>Dean's eyes practically started bugging out of his head. "Did you just say watch over me?"</p><p> </p><p>"Yes," Cas replied and it was moments like this that Dean remembered that Cas really had no idea what counted as weird in the human world.</p><p> </p><p>"That's- that's kind of creepy you know," Dean muttered sitting up in his bed so he could look at his roommate.</p><p> </p><p>"Maybe where you're from," Cas said and Dean could hear the shrug in his words, "but I'm not human and where I'm from it's completely normal to keep an eye on others when they are vulnerable. And, correct me if I'm wrong, but you are pretty vulnerable while unconscious."</p><p> </p><p>Dean thought Cas' words over for a minute, realising that Cas had a point. While Dean was asleep he was not going to be able to protect himself, and although he didn't expect to need protecting in his dorm room, the thought was still there.</p><p> </p><p>"That makes sense," Dean agreed, "where do you come from anyway?" He didn't normally ask for details about Cas’ life, but sometimes when it came up in conversation he couldn’t help himself.</p><p> </p><p>Just like every other time, Cas just sighed quietly and said something vague. "Somewhere far away." And just like every other time, Dean just shrugged and took the answer as it was. He wasn't going to push Cas for more details than he wanted to give.</p><p> </p><p>There was a moment of silence, both of them sitting there in the quiet of the night. "You need to sleep," Cas said gently, his gaze gently resting on Dean. "You can relax, I'll watch over you."</p><p> </p><p>Dean smiled gently in response, laying down in his bed and closing his eyes, his mind finally calm enough for him to slip off to sleep, the gentle weight of Cas' gaze making him feel protected and safe.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Have an awesome week!!! And hopefully I'll see you on Wednesday!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Personal Space (heater)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you don't read chapter titles please scroll up a tiny bit and read it, because damn am I proud. I shouldn't be, but I am. I do love a good pun.<br/>I'm sorry. You just want to read creature Cas and I'm over here making puns. I do actually love this chapter though, so I hope you agree.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Dean found his curiosity over what Castiel was only growing. It wasn’t enough that he actively looked into it or anything, he hadn’t even tried to google the guy which either showed how much he respected Cas, or how little he actually wanted to know who Cas actually was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And okay, it was definitely only his respect for Castiel’s privacy which had stopped that little background check, and also partially the fact that Cas barely used his phone, Dean doubted he even had any social media to look at. But really, the guy seemed harmless, just an enigma wrapped in a surprisingly attractive, and friendly, outer layer. He never hurt anyone, or threatened anyone, he was always careful to respect any boundaries people set and Dean honestly couldn’t understand why a person that amazing didn’t have a literal fan club following his every move.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Okay, fine, maybe Dean’s </span>
  <span>feel-</span>
  <span> attraction to Cas helped with that thing as well. Dean was almost scared that if he looked Cas up he would find something he didn’t want to see, and one of the only people he had ever felt attraction like this to would suddenly be off limits.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The only really weird thing about Cas that Dean could see - beyond the weird unknown creature characteristics and rusty people skills that was - was that no one else seemed to see the same Castiel Dean did. Apparently from everyone else who Dean talked to who also knew Castiel, he was a nice guy, but he kept himself to himself and didn’t like other people in his personal space.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That had nearly made Dean die of laughter. Cas? Caring about personal space? He very much doubted it. Castiel never bothered with personal space around Dean, always standing right next to him and although it had been odd at first, by now Dean was used to it and broke personal space just as often as Cas did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Personal space just didn’t exist in their room, so the idea that Cas cared about personal space was just hilarious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There were many times which Dean could think of just off the top of his head, when Castiel hadn’t even seemed to think about personal space.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean sprinted through the rain, the feeling of cold sinking down to his very bone as he tried his best to rush from his last lesson to his dorm. It was a fifteen minute walk on a good day, today he was hoping to sprint it before he got too cold.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t doing very well at it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>By the time he arrived at the front door he was dripping, and by the time he was in his room he was shivering violently, his teeth chattering and his hands so stiff he couldn't even close them into fists.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Dean?" Cas' concerned voice asked from the direction of his bed. The other man was completely dry as he lounged on top of his covers, a book sat on his lap as he looked over at Dean as he dripped and shook.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"H-how on-n e-earth are-e y-you d-d-dry?" Dean asked incredulously, barely able to get words past his chattering teeth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I finished early today," Castiel answered, standing up to walk over to Dean, his brow furrowed as he looked him over, "it wasn't even raining when I got home."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Y-yeah? W-well i-it's-s d-definitely r-raining-g n-now."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Castiel nodded, "clearly," he muttered dryly, "grab some clean clothes and get in the shower before the cold harms you."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean squinted at his roommate for a moment. "B-befor-re t-the c-cold-d har-rms me-e?" he questioned, a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth, "i-is this-s your-r w-way-y of-f s-saying b-b-before I c-catch a c-cold?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"A cold is the least of your worries," Cas replied, turning around to walk back to his bed. He sounded honestly concerned and not like he was joking, which definitely threw Dean for at least a moment. "There are many worse things being cold for too long can do."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"A-alright then-n," Dean said slowly, gathering up his softest and warmest clothes. "W-well I b-better go-o before-e… I get-t h-harmed." </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He could see Castiel nodding in agreement, his face serious. "Please do," he said gravely, "I will see you when you get out."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean sighed as he walked out the shower room, his hair was still damp and he was wrapped up in warm clothes, but he still felt cold, like it had somehow seeped into his very bones and as soon as he stepped out from under the hot spray it just started creeping back in.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He walked straight to his bed, wrapping himself in his covers as he wished he would just warm up already. He hated being too cold. Shivering was just a hassle and the ache which set into all his joints was uncomfortable. Being cold made him moody and tired, but he couldn’t sleep when cold.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dean? Are you alright? You look like you need to sleep,” Castiel said, his voice gentle and a different book than before in his lap, “What time did you wake up this morning?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean snorted, “five in the morning,” he muttered angrily, “so yeah, sleep seems like a great idea.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Okay, perfect,” Cas hummed, picking his book back up, “sleep, I will watch over you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Perfect? Oh yeah, the most perfect.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You sound like you’re being sarcastic,” Cas’ voice was hesitant, like he knew Dean was in a mood but couldn’t figure out what was wrong.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Really Cas?” Dean snapped, “wow I couldn’t figure that out on my own.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas’ glare cut across the room, his eyes glowing very slightly even in the light. “There is no reason to be rude.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean hung his head, picking at his covers. Damn was Cas’ glare affective. “I’m sorry, I’m still cold and can’t warm up enough to sleep,” he muttered, still sounding annoyed but trying to be polite this time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re still cold?” Cas asked, a slight laugh to his words as he climbed off his bed and started walking over to Dean, his book still held in his grasp.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It isn’t funny,” Dean muttered petulantly, “I swear the cold is in my bones now.” He carried on pouting into the distance, not paying attention to Cas, so nearly jumped out of his bed when he felt the mattress dip and Cas climb on next to him. “What are you doing?” he gasped, unsure if he should push Cas away or run away himself. "Dude, personal space!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Calm down,” Cas sighed tiredly, as though Dean’s reaction was silly instead of completely warranted. “You’re tired and need to sleep, I run warmer than average,” Cas shrugged, “this makes sense.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean opened his mouth to argue, but his brain decided that it was a good idea to register the delicious warmth radiating off Cas and any and all arguments just melted off his tongue. He was like a goddamn space heater.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How are you so warm?” Dean asked quietly, unconsciously shifting closer to his roommate, tiredness already starting to wash over him now that he was warming up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I always have been,” Cas answered with a shrug, shifting until he was sitting against the headboard, Dean lying pressed against him with his head in Cas’ lap, “it’s part of who I am.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean weakly nodded, but he was quickly succumbing to sleep, uncaring how close he was pressed against Cas when it was so warm. Not even the light could keep him awake, and to the sound of flipping pages and the feeling of fingers in his hair, Dean drifted off.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thanks or reading!!!<br/>Kudos and Comments mean everything to me, and make the time I put into this story worth it!!!<br/>Have an awesome week, and I will hopefully see you at the weekend!!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. The Silver Lining's Cloud</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay so quick thing. This story is (sadly) not all fun and cuteness, and this chapter is most of that.<br/>I've put it in the tags, but I'll also mention it here, this chapter has a TW for disordered eating. It's not an eating disorder, but if they trigger you then you probably shouldn't read this chapter, though it'll be all sorted next chapter. I'll put a summary in the end notes for anyone who has to skip this, and if you think you might have to skip it you can always check that to get an idea. <br/>Ummm.... yes I think that's everything. Enjoy!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Dean had a problem, a pretty big problem to be honest. The job he had managed to get was a good one, and he was lucky to have it. He was a waiter at the local diner, and it was perfect. It didn't pay amazingly, but it was enough for Dean to be able to comfortably eat and pay the rent, while still having a little bit left over as long as he picked up enough shifts.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His problem however, was that Dean needed to save up for a new laptop. He used it in all of his classes, but it was starting to crash and Dean knew that if he carried on at the rate he was at the moment, then his laptop would be dead long before he could afford a new one, and then he would be screwed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He tried to pick up more shifts, but he was still at college full time, studying when he could, and picking up shifts the rest of the time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So something else had to go.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It couldn't be rent, he needed somewhere to live. It couldn’t be anything college related, he couldn’t drop out now, not after how long he waited to get there.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And that only left one thing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Food.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Skipping breakfast wasn’t a big deal, Cas still offered him his coffee, so it wasn’t like he wasn’t having anything at all in the mornings. Lunch was harder. But it just gave him more time to study, and as long as he kept himself busy he barely even noticed it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Okay, that was a lie, but he was getting better at ignoring it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Supper he actually ate, only small portions to make sure what he could afford lasted longer, but that was mainly because the other guys he shared a house with were normally there as well, and he didn’t want to worry them by letting them know he wasn’t eating properly. He knew that if he said anything they would happily share their food, but they were all struggling college kids, they needed their own money, he wasn’t going to pull them down with him just because he couldn’t keep himself afloat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And so it continued, he drank coffee in the morning, studied at lunch, picked up as many shifts as he could, studied the rest of the time, eating as much as he could afford while still saving up for the new laptop - which wasn’t a lot - and lying to anyone who asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He said he’d already eaten, or that he was going to eat at the diner, or that he just didn’t eat large portions because he had a slow metabolism.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He lied, and he pretended, and he hoped no one would notice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  
  <span>*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean groaned as he stumbled into the kitchen. He was hungry, his stomach was growling at him, and he couldn’t wait until he had bought a new laptop so he could start eating normally again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He carefully brewed some coffee, enough for him and Cas, and stared longingly at the bread in the cupboard. He had never expected to want toast this much, but even just thinking about the crispy, yet soft, bread, covered in- no. He really needed to stop doing this. Food was not that important, he had survived without eating three meals before, when John had been away and Dean had needed to keep Sam fed, he could do it again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He could.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had to.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Morning Dean,” Cas grumbled, his voice little more than a growl, as he walked into the room, walking straight over to where Dean was pouring out their coffees. Cas had started actually using words first thing in the morning recently, even if his voice was normally a growl, they were words. He rumbled happily as Dean handed over the mug, and instantly it was like the rest of the world no longer existed, Dean couldn’t help but smirk, his normally watchful roommate was too busy inhaling his coffee to notice what the rest of the house was doing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Taking advantage of that, Dean finished his own coffee quickly, topped up Cas’ mug, and walked out. Despite sharing a room with Cas for a couple of months now, he still didn’t know much about him, but he did know that Cas was observant, and too giving for his own good. Dean refused to take advantage of Cas, so he made sure to use the time Cas was drinking his coffee - the one time Cas wasn’t aware of everything and everyone - to hide his lack of breakfast.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He got changed quickly in their bathroom, making sure he was wearing multiple layers before Cas even thought about returning to their room, packing his bags and brushing his teeth. Dean had no idea what kind of powers Cas had, and it was best to cover all bases he could if he wanted to keep this a secret from him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He knew it was at least a little bit irrational, Cas could help, and Dean was putting a lot of effort into stopping him from knowing, but Dean did not want his roommate’s pity, and even if he knew John had been wrong, he’d spent his entire childhood knowing that he wasn’t allowed to ask for help.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He wasn’t supposed to need help.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And old habits die hard.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There was also the tiny part of Dean which had to point out that Cas was scary when he wanted to be, something inside Dean always told him to be weary. He didn’t know what kind of creature Cas was, and he wasn’t sure if Cas was dangerous or not.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean had early classes that morning, so he was out the door only minutes after Cas had wandered back in after drinking his coffee. Because of that, Dean missed the concerned expression on Castiel’s face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He also missed when Cas’ expression hardened, changing from concerned to determined.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*</span>
</p><p>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Dean was basically dead on his feet by the time he dragged himself back into his room, the only thing on his mind was his bed. His stomach was growling, but not even that could convince him to take a detour to the kitchen. He was going to his bed, and that was that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>That was apparently not that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He walked into his room, ready to collapse and hopefully sleep, but instead met a wall of angry looking Cas. He was standing between the door and Dean’s bed, his arms crossed and a determined expression on his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Cas?” Dean asked in confusion, wondering what could have happened - or more what he could have done - to make Cas look like… well… like that.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dean,” Cas said in response, not moving or explaining why he was there.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean sighed, trying to walk around Cas to get to his bed. If he was going to have to figure out what upset Cas, he wanted to do it sitting down. Unfortunately, Cas just moved with him, staying between Dean and his bed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ummm, Cas?” Dean squinted at his friend. “Can I maybe get to my bed?” He had no idea what was going on, and seriously just wished Cas would let him sleep, they could talk about this tomorrow couldn’t they?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No,” Cas said in what was definitely a growl now. “I need to talk to you, and I need to get you to actually talk, so your bed is now a hostage.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You can’t take my bed hostage!” Dean whined, swaying from side to side in frustration, like a little kid having a tantrum.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I just did,” Castiel pointed out, his tone even, despite the small smirk at the edge of his mouth, which quickly dropped when he continued talking. “When did you last eat Dean?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean froze. “W-what?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You heard me. When did you last eat, and before you even try it, no, drinking coffee doesn’t count.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean stared at the floor, he had been about to bring up coffee. Before he could second guess himself he jumped backwards, launching himself onto Cas’ bed. If Cas wouldn’t let him on his own bed, then he would just have to use Cas’.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A loud sigh came from where Cas had been standing, and the next thing Dean knew he was being pulled out of the bed with more strength than humans possess, and pushed into a chair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“When did you last eat?” Cas asked again, his eyes glowing and his words barely audible under the growl rumbling from Cas’ chest. Dean was suddenly reminded that Cas was a creature, Dean didn’t know what he was. Did he seriously just mix up Cas’ kindness for weakness? Because he really should have known better than to rile up something with glowy eyes that doesn’t sleep and- yeah he should really be trying to answer rather than figuring out why he should answer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It was-” Dean stopped for a moment, having to actually think about the answer. He hadn’t eaten supper, he’d been too tired for that, and he hadn’t had lunch or breakfast either. He had eaten yesterday supper, his slice of lasagne had been delicious, even if he had still been hungry afterwards. “last night.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Castiel snarled.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Not a normal, human, angry snarl either… Did humans ever snarl? Dean had no idea but that really wasn’t his point. Castiel’s snarl was animalistic, his creature side visible in everything about him, even if Dean still couldn’t tell what it was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Castiel was pissed, and Dean had no idea what he was supposed to do about this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Last night? Last night?” Castiel repeated, as though he couldn’t actually believe what he was hearing. “I saw what you ate last night, that could not have kept you fed until now!” Castiel took a few breaths, hopefully trying to calm down. “What about before that?”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“The- the night before that?” Dean offered hesitantly, phrasing it like a question even though he knew exactly when it was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Any chance of Cas calming down was completely gone by that point. If Dean thought his eyes were glowing before, he quickly had to evaluate. Now they were glowing, before they were just glinting. Now though, Dean was fairly sure they were outshining every single light in the room. It would have been breathtaking if it had been happening for any other reason than how pissed Cas was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas didn’t even say anything, he just grabbed Dean’s arm - surprisingly gently for how angry he looked - and dragged him down the hall and to the kitchen. Dean was glad that the other guys were already in their rooms, this would have been really awkward to explain to them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean was pushed into one of the chairs while Cas started making him some food, heating up Cas’ supper from the look of things, still not saying anything until the plate was in front of Dean and his roommate’s glowy glare had forced him to start eating it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why have you not been eating Dean?” Cas asked, the growl finally gone from his voice now that Dean was eating.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Couldn’t afford it,” Dean muttered quietly, feeling embarrassed. “I need a new laptop, can’t exactly stop paying the rent, so the food had to go.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You could have asked one of the rest of us to help - you could have asked me to help.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean looked down, unable to look at Cas when he looked so sad. “You all have your own financial problems, I’m not dragging you guys down with me just because I’m too much of a failure to afford my own food.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>Cas didn’t start growling again, but Dean could very clearly see in his eyes that he was not happy with Dean’s words.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dean, I can promise you, my financial state is stable enough that buying enough food for you while you save up, won’t change anything. If I can afford that coffee, I can afford feeding you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean opened his mouth to argue, he didn’t need Cas to look after him, he would be able to afford his laptop soon, and then everything would be back to normal, but before he could say anything Cas started talking again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And don’t think you’ll be able to sneak out of eating like you clearly have been these last few weeks. I will stop drinking my coffee if I have to, to make sure you eat. You are human Dean, and humans need to eat plenty.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean nodded, knowing that no matter what creature Cas was, he was stubborn enough to actually do what he said he would. There was no point arguing, he would just eat, and hope that he could afford his laptop soon.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Chapter Summary: <br/>Dean needs a new laptop, but doesn't have much money so decides that money going towards eating has to go, so he ends up only eating one meal a day. He hides it from everyone he knows, and has convinced himself (and John brought him up telling him) that he can't ask for help. Cas does eventually find out, and goes all BAMF creature-y when he realises what's been going on, before giving Dean his food and promising that he has more than enough money to feed Dean as well as himself while Dean needs the help.</p><p>Thanks for reading!!! Comments and Kudos make my day!! And I'll see you on the next chapter!!!!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Un-bee-lievable</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello again!! I hope you've all been doing okay since I last saw you!!</p><p>Just a quick note for anyone who had to skip last chapter, it is safe again. They are discussing what happened, but they are talking about Castiel's reaction, not what caused it.</p><p>Enjoy!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Cas we need to talk,” Dean announced, dropping onto his bed and pulling his feet underneath him as he watched the other bed, waiting for Cas to acknowledge him. He clenched and unclenched his hands in his cover, nervous about what he would find out here, but knowing he couldn’t leave it any longer. He had to know, before anyone got hurt.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“We do?” Castiel sounded too innocent. He knew they had to talk, but he didn’t want to and had apparently decided to take the ‘fake it till you make it’ option. It shouldn’t be cute, but somehow Dean couldn’t help but think that it kind of was. This was Castiel, the overly blunt, straight to the point, Castiel, and to see him try and pretend he had no idea what Dean was talking about was just… cute.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes.” Dean made sure to not leave any room in his tone for argument. They had been living together for ages now, and after everything that had happened, Dean knew they needed to sort a few things out.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright then,” Castiel sighed, but Dean could tell it was a cover up. Something was making the other guy nervous, and Dean was going to find out what it was. Well, he guessed he was anyway. If Cas was that worried about whatever it was coming up if they were talking, then it probably was going to come up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas very slowly put his bookmark in the book he had been reading when Dean arrived, and placed the book on his bedside table. Dean almost laughed at how obvious he was being. He was trying to stall, but it was not subtle stalling in the slightest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean decided to let him stall. This conversation was going to have to be a bit of a give and take, so if Dean wanted answers, it would be best for him to give Cas some time to ready himself to give them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was probably five minutes before Castiel stopped fiddling with tiny little things - slightly shifting his book, making his bed, checking his phone five separate times - and finally turned to face Dean. “What do you want to talk about?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You,” Dean said, not feeling any need to beat around the bush or soften the blow with any false pleasantries. He needed to talk about Cas, plain and simple, so that was going to be how he said it.  “I haven’t pried until now, but yesterday - with the food thing - you… I don’t know… I barely recognised you.”</span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>
    <br/>
  </span>
  <span>“I scared you,” Cas summarised, a guilty look spreading across his face. He looked like he was mentally beating himself up, and knowing Cas, he probably was.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I wasn’t scared exactly,” Dean muttered, fiddling with his covers, “I was just suddenly very aware that you’re not human, and I don’t know what you are.”</span>
  <span></span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re worried I’m going to hurt you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Will you stop putting words into my mouth!” Dean snapped. “Look, I don’t know what you are. Now, I trust you, but that doesn’t change the fact you went all growly and glowy eyed on me, just because I wasn’t eating.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Just not eating,” Cas scoffed, a quiet growl rumbling from his chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s exactly what I mean! I can’t- Look, I don’t even care if you tell me what you are or not, I understand that’s personal for some creatures, I just want to know why you’ve been acting so,” he waved his hands in the air above his head, looking for the right words, “so protective.” It wasn’t right, but it would do until he found a better one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Being protective isn't a bad thing,” Cas pointed out, something in his eyes telling Dean that he was offended.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Everything can be bad when there is too much of it.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So I’m over-protective?” Cas sounded half annoyed, and half just confused. Like he didn’t know what Dean meant, but he had the feeling he was being insulted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, It’s just- I don’t know. First it’s protective, then it’s over-protective, next thing I know you might be trying to control my every move, I just need to check.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Dean.” There was false calm in Castiel’s voice, and Dean could tell it meant that Cas was walking the pinnacle of exploding. Dean got the idea that he would be exploding inwards, like Dean often found himself doing, but that didn’t change how… worrying… it was. “Have I ever done anything to make you think I would be like that, like I would become some kind of abusive, controlling asshole?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It hit Dean suddenly that they were discussing this like there was more between them than being roommates, even more than being friends, and strangely enough, the thought of it didn’t scare Dean. He quite liked the sound of it in fact.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Castiel shook his head. “No, no one actually worries about that unless it’s happened to them. What happened? Who hurt you.” His voice was little more than a growl by the end, and Dean could tell they weren’t going to get anymore talking done until they resolved it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s fine, I wasn’t hurt,” Dean assured, almost wanting to get up and go and sit on Cas’ bed, but chickening out at the last second. Not yet. “My dad was a bit controlling, and I guess it got kind of bad. It was fine, I just don’t want to end up with that little freedom all over again.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas stared for a long moment, like he was trying to see if Dean was telling the truth or not. Whichever answer he found, he was obviously happy about it, as he nodded decisively and turned his gaze to the floor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Alright, that makes sense,” he relented, “I guess I have a lot to explain don’t I.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’d say so,” Dean laughed, relaxing backwards on his bed and waiting for Cas to continue.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I am-” Castiel sighed loudly and tried again. Clearly saying this was harder than Dean had assumed it would be. “I told you that I don’t need to learn any of my courses right?” he waited for Dean to nod before he continued, “I learnt all of this before, a long time ago. I didn’t need a degree, so I learnt it, and carried on with my life. A while ago, just before the start of the semester, I felt a pull telling me to come to this city, this college. I followed it, and my family helped pay my way in, even though I hadn’t applied.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean felt his breath leave him in a rush. This was a lot of information. Cas had come here for a reason, and his family were rich enough to get him a place with no application? Not to mention the fact Cas was apparently a lot older than he looked?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The pull I felt was dragging me towards my mate - my soulmate I guess it would be in human terms. The creature who was made especially for me.” Castiel’s voice was quiet, yet happy, like this had been a weight on his chest that he’d been holding back for a long time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>There weren’t many creatures with mates, not in the soulmate way Cas was talking about. It left only a few options for what Cas could be. After all, only the oldest and most powerful species were given someone that special by the universe.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Somewhere in their college was Castiel’s special someone, and without even knowing them, Dean hated them.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He shouldn’t, he knew that, but whoever it was, was fucking lucky, and it would take a stronger man than Dean not to be jealous of that.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Yes. Dean is an idiot. How could you tell??<br/>See you Sunday!!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Understanding</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello!! This is it!! The chapter you've all been waiting for!!<br/>Dean *bee*ing an idiot. Part two. (I'm sorry)<br/>I don't even know why this became about bee puns.... literally two chapters of this story even mentioned bee puns.... Anyway!!<br/>So buckle up! Hold onto your hats! Because it's time to get some answers!!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you going to leave once you find them?” Dean asked, hating the thought of Cas leaving him. He could feel a sudden chill run through his body the more he thought about Cas finding the lucky girl or boy - or other, Dean didn’t know what orientation Cas was - smiling that bright smile that always made Dean’s stomach swoop when it was directed at him, and then disappearing into the sunset with them cradled in his arms. And sure, maybe Dean knew that life wasn’t a chick flick, there would be no sunset disappearing, but it would feel the same. Cas would still be leaving Dean’s life.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No,” Cas started hesitantly, like there was something not quite right, “I assume he will want to finish his degree, so I will stick around until then.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>So it was a he. For some reason that hurt more than if it had been a pretty girl, or a cool enby. If Cas didn’t like guys, then that would be that. It wasn’t Dean who had failed, it wasn't Dean who Cas didn’t like, it would just be his gender.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But no.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas liked guys. He just didn’t like Dean.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You know who he is don't you," Dean sighed, a wash of fatigue crashing over him and only increasing the longer they both talked about the unknown man who would steal Dean’s man.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Except no. That wasn’t fair. Whoever that guy was didn’t do anything wrong. He was born to be Cas’ partner, it wasn’t his fault that Dean had to go and fall for a guy he could never have. Dean wanted to be pleased for him. Whoever he was must be pretty amazing for the universe to decide he was good enough to spend the rest of his life with Cas.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I do,” Cas said slowly, hesitantly, like he wasn’t completely sure what he was saying. Dean couldn’t figure out how this worked, there was no way that Cas could know who it was, but also be confused. There was nothing to be confused about. He had found his soulmate, whether he had told him or not, so now it was Dean’s responsibility to move on.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Even if right now, moving on felt like the hardest thing in existence.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He doesn’t know?” Dean asked, noting that there was something wrong there. It made sense, if he was right about there being something wrong, then it would be that he hadn’t told whoever it was yet. He couldn’t imagine why Cas would avoid telling someone that important to him the truth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was weird though… He couldn’t think of who it could be. Cas didn’t spend all that time hanging out with people. Actually, he spent a lot of his time in their room, Dean didn’t think he ever went out in the evenings.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean shook his head, it didn’t matter. Cas could easily be meeting up with people while Dean was at class, it wasn’t for Dean to judge what he was doing.  </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I tried to tell him,” Cas said very slowly, “but I get the feeling he didn’t figure out what I was trying to tell him.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“That’s problematic,” Dean muttered, slightly distracted. He wondered how long ago Cas told him. Maybe Cas was only telling him this now because he was trying to tell his - his soulmate - and so had decided to try and practice with Dean first.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Except no. That couldn’t be it… Dean was the one who asked what Cas was, and that was the whole reason this conversation was going on. Cas couldn’t have been planning this.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, it is,” Cas muttered. He stood up then, slowly walking over to sit next to Dean on his bed. “I’m starting to think there has been a misunderstanding here.” He looked pointedly at Dean, but he didn’t even start trying to translate it. All his mind was thinking about was the person in their college who would take Cas far away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When Dean didn’t say anything, Castiel sighed loudly and lightly grabbed onto Dean’s biceps, just tightly enough to get his attention. “Dean, it’s you. You’re the one I came here for. You’re the one who was created especially for me.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean froze, every single muscle in his body locking up. A strangled "Me?" was the only thing he managed to force out, his tongue feeling too swollen to talk properly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He was Cas' soulmate. He was the one who was made for Cas. There wasn't anyone out there waiting to steal Cas from him, there was just him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes Dean,” Cas smiled, “ever since I first walked into our room at the start of the year, my instincts have been screaming at me to look after you. I could tell that you didn’t trust easily, and I knew it would be best not to say anything unless you asked me, at least until we knew each other and I was sure you wouldn’t run away when I told you that we were mates.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean felt a flare of anger rise up. Cas had been purposefully keeping information from him! He had known all this time, and hadn’t said anything! But then again… Cas had a point. Dean would have ran far away. And Cas was just trying to look after him. Just as quickly as it had appeared, Dean felt his anger drain away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas was just trying to look after him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know, I still don’t know what you are,” Dean pointed out slowly, “I know your species must be old, and grand, because the universe gave you a soulmate. I know you must be part of a rich family, and that your species must either age slowly or be immortal, but I still don’t actually know what you are.”</span>
  <span></span>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s not all you know,” Cas grinned, a hint of mischief in his eyes, “we’ve shared a room for months now, and you’re telling me that you didn’t pick anything up?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean grinned, leaning closer to Cas to knock their shoulders together. “Your eyes glow, you don’t sleep, but mornings still get to you. You- oh. The bee poster and the coffee are suddenly starting to make sense. And the food actually.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“My instincts screamed for me to look after you,” Cas said with a small shrug, leaning against Dean’s side, “I wanted to look after you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean grinned happily, “your eyes glow, you run warmer than humans. You’re territorial, but now I think about it that might have been over me rather than the room,” he laughed breathily, “so much is suddenly starting to make sense now I know this.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes, I can imagine that my behaviour towards you has been greatly influenced by my infatuation with you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A small laugh bubbled up from Dean’s chest. Castiel spoke really strangely sometimes, but Dean guessed that even that could be explained by Cas’ species. Now, what was he?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Oh.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>OH.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>How hadn't he seen that sooner?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You're a dragon," Dean whispered, his voice a mixture of shock and awe as he stared at his apparent soulmate, his hands wringing in his lap to stop himself from reaching out and pinching himself to make sure this wasn't a dream.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Yeah," Cas smiled faintly as he reached out, grabbing Dean's hands and squeezing them tightly, "is that a problem?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Nah, it actually explains a lot."</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas started lying down, pulling a pillow under his head and tugging Dean down after him. Dean let himself be pulled. He knew that this wasn't the most of Cas' strength - dragons were rare, and Dean didn't know much about them, but he did know that they were stronger than humans - but Cas could have pulled him with zero strength and Dean would have gone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I love you Dean Winchester, you are my mate, the reason I'm here, my future," Cas whispered in Dean's ear. Dean flushed red, but didn't push away like he would normally do. This was Cas. His soulmate. The man - dragon - he lo… he really really liked. Instead of pushing away he sank back into Cas' warmth, allowing him to hold him warm and safe.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Allowing Cas to look after him, instead of Dean looking after everyone like he normally did.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I can't imagine a life without you," Dean replied, tangling their legs together. He wanted to say the words back to Cas but he wasn't ready yet. He knew Cas would wait, and when he was ready, he would never stop saying it.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Just the epilogue left now folks!<br/>See you then!!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This is it. The epilogue is here!!<br/>Hope you like it!!!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Dean grinned as he slowly walked through the cave he now called home. It was high up on the mountain, inaccessible by anything that couldn’t fly, and had an amazing view of the stars thanks to its distance from any major light pollutants. He had got better with heights, but even then he did not want to go and sit on the edge with his legs dangling like Cas seemed to love doing. Then again, maybe it was less scary when you had wings which you could use to save yourself if you fell? Either way, Dean always made sure to stay a good meter or two from the edge. He was shocked enough that Cas had managed to convince him to go and live halfway up a mountain, looking at how high they were was a definite no go.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Just as Cas had said they would, they had stayed at college for the rest of Dean’s course, the only difference was that they started dating, and Dean didn’t have to bust his ass working as much as he had before. Cas had decided it was his duty to help financially support Dean, so that Dean would be able to focus on studying instead of worrying about money, and could pick up shifts when he wasn’t in the middle of exams. Dean had tried to argue, he didn’t want charity - he had got this far, paid for Sam to get through college, he could do this too - but after a long talk and a few shouting matches, they had finally arrived on the same page.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean had realised that Cas wanted to help because he cared, not just because he pitied him, and that accepting help didn’t make him weak, while Cas had realised that his dragon instincts weren’t always right, and sometimes the human way was best. They learned how to help each other, they learned how to read each other like books, and together they made each other better.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Obviously that wasn’t their only argument, they often disagreed over stuff, sometimes just stupid stuff, sometimes bigger things, but each time it happened they got better at talking it out, and by the time they finished the year Dean had actually learned how to talk about his feelings - to Cas at least.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Cas was the best thing to ever happen to Dean, in both the romantic, and the physical sense of the phrase. Without Cas, Dean doubted he would be thriving the way he was, Dean wasn’t sure he would have even managed to finish college without Cas by his side, and all he could do in return was hope that Cas was telling the truth when he said that Dean gave more than enough back to him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean let a soft smile spread across his face just thinking about it. Although they had sorted a lot of things out during their original conversation about the whole mess, it took a few more conversations before everything was sorted through and they could really just be together.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>But once they managed that? Dean seriously wondered how they had managed to not do anything for so long. They spent every moment they could plastered together, and every day Cas’ dragon characteristics became more and more obvious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The mountain air surrounding their cave was chilly, the fire inside the cavern didn’t heat the air all the way out here, and Dean found himself shivering despite the fact the sun hadn’t yet started to dip behind the horizon. They had moved to Cas’ cave as soon as they had left college, and now Dean worked as a mechanical engineer at the city half an hours fly from their home - Cas was a very quick flyer - four days a week and visited Cas’ family weekly. He had expected the other dragons to have a problem with him, maybe they would think Cas should get a better, stronger mate, but he was surprised to find he wasn’t the only human there, and he was welcomed with open arms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At the moment he was home alone. Cas was off hunting in the woods beyond the mountain range - he’d probably met up with one of his siblings which was why it was one of his longer hunting sessions - and although Dean had been invited, he had decided he'd rather stay at home and finish preparing the guest rooms. Well… Guest chambers. Sam had finally decided it was about time he was allowed to come and meet Dean's dragon boyfriend, so he had invited himself. Dean had visited him and Bobby quite a few times since he and Cas had gotten together, and they knew all about Cas, they had even seen a glimpse of him out the window when he had dropped Dean off, but they had never had a proper conversation.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Dean had no idea when Sam would be arriving, he didn’t even know how he was planning to get there. All he knew was what he had said, and all he had said was that he would be fine arriving on his own, he wouldn’t get lost, and that he would see them soon. Dean wasn’t too worried, but that didn’t stop him from keeping an eye out and hoping that he would see Sam before nightfall. He hated the thought of his baby brother trying to trek through the mountains in the dark.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He had finished all those preparations, so now he was just waiting for Cas to get back with dinner and whatever else he picked up on his trip. As Dean quickly figured out, Cas was very much a hoarder. He would get rid of something in a heartbeat if it upset Dean - like the time he somehow came home with a gun which reminded Dean a little too much of his dad’s old firearm - but if Dean had no problem with it then whatever Cas had found would be put away in one of the many chambers inside the cave.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A loud flapping noise startled him out of his thoughts, the wind picking up enough to knock up the dirt and send some of the small rocks tumbling over the edge. Obviously Dean was too big to be knocked down, even by the impressive drought Cas managed to cause, but he still disliked being out in the open like this when the large dragon form of his boyfriend was landing at the entrance to their cave.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Heya Cas," Dean grinned, walking over to stand next to Cas and leaning against his leg, not very subtly using his body heat to warm himself back up. Cas was glorious in his dragon form, large, shiny, his scales midnight blue - almost black - and his eyes just as blue as they were in his human form. Dean couldn’t believe that a creature this magnificent, this powerful, saw something worthy in Dean, but clearly he did. Because Dean was here, and that wasn’t going to change any time soon.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hello Dean,” Cas smiled, catching Dean easily when he started to fall. Dean knew that Cas had done that on purpose, changing back with no warning just to knock Dean off balance, but he couldn’t find it within himself to be mad. He turned to look at his boyfriend, the sinking sun creating a halo of light around his entire body. Castiel’s human form was still the most breathtaking thing Dean had ever seen, and ever since he had finished college and moved in with Cas, into his world of dragons and creatures, Dean had seen a lot of breathtaking stuff.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>And that's the end!!!<br/>Thank you all of you for coming on this journey with me!!<br/>I hope you all have a fantastic week!! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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